One of the most important parts of the Hebrew social structure was blood-line or genealogy. There were three primary areas this directly impacted. One was their status and the highest of course were the royal line and the priestly line. Another of almost equal importance were the political genealogies and arrangements for peace.

The royal blood line was carefully recorded and traced all the way back to the beginning with (some say) Abraham. The point is that it was so very important. It was definitely important when Jesus came on the scene. So important in fact that Matthew in his Gospel dedicated the very first part to the genealogy of Christ as a decedent of the Royal line. It was actually an imperative for him to even be considered as the messiah. The Hebrews believed in proof, evidence, and of course lineage. It was because of lack of proof that some of the priests were ejected from the temple after the return from captivity. Many people were turned away from the children of Israel because proof of their lineage couldn’t be provided. Oh yes, lineage meant a great deal. The two big families during the time of Jesus were the Hasmoneans and the Herodians. The people were very pleased with and truly loved the Hasmonean Kings. When Herod started his dynasty he was not popular. The people wanted another Hasmonean king. Although it got better, this bitterness had splintered the Judeans and started a undercurrent that came to a head from time to time.

Let me add this note here: Endogenous marriage was common especially in royalty and especially among the Hebrews. One of the reasons was their insistence of blood purity. It was acceptable even favored for daughters to be married to a close relative such as a brother or nephew. On some occasions the father would marry his own daughter. It was highly desired for the blood to stay within a tribe, to again, maintain purity. However in the royal line it was sometimes the case where the king would take a wife from a foreign country as with Solomon and his Egyptian wife. On occasion it was necessary to cement a peace agreement or to increase the status of a lesser king.

The priestly line was very similar in it’s desires and goals. Second only to the king, the priest was a leader of the people and held their hearts in his hand. The priest also wielded quite a bit of power among the people at times even influencing how the people saw their king. Abraham was then the founder of kings and Aaron the founder of the priests. Other priestly lines are mentioned like the priesthood of Melchizedek who also happened to be the king of Salem (Jerusalem) at the time of Abraham.

This then was the social structure of Judea during the days of Christ. It was a recipe for problems and was like a festering sore. It was only too easy to pit groups against each other, which was similar to the military strategy of divide and conquer. One of the dividing points was their own religion.

Division of lineage, of religious beliefs and political sentiment made the environment tenuous at best. All we needed to add was a challenge to all three - a priestly king that taught a new message….